NIU Esports Director Russ Devereaux sat down with Varsity Valorant player Ronald Berryhill to learn more about Ron’s experiences as an NIU student athlete and an intern at an international construction company.
Russ: Hi Ron! Thank you for talking with us. Can you start out by introducing yourself?
Ron: My name is Ronald Berryhill. I’m from Chicago, Illinois. I graduated from Kenwood Academy High School in 2023. I’m now majoring in Operations Management and Information Systems here at Northern Illinois, going on to my fourth year.
What’s your gamer tag?
Duhstroyer
Can you tell us a little about your Varsity Esports experience? What game do you play and what role do you have? How long have you been playing and what’s your gaming background?
I currently play for the NIU Varsity Valorant, I am the IGL, the in-game leader and captain of the team, and I play Recon Initiator.
My gaming history started at the young age of nine. I was getting into Minecraft at the time, playing PC games, anything I could get my hands on. And then around 2018, I got into Overwatch, which that started my first-person shooter experience. I played Overwatch for quite a bit, and then Valorant finally came out in 2020. I was playing Valorant with friends all the time, having a fun time. And then all of a sudden I was playing so many hours I started getting good at it.
Then when I came to NIU in 2023, I found our NIU Esports Arena in Altgeld Hall and I started playing the game there. I met some friends along the way, and we started playing together. I kept on improving over time. Then, at the end of my freshman year, I tried out for the varsity team and I managed to get the spot.
That leads us into 2024-25 where I played the whole season in a variety of different roles, being the second leader, the third leader within that team, and being a second strong voice for our team. We had many victories during that time. Then this past year, 2025-26, I took the sole lead of the team, and we had still had many successes. We had a great trip to Akron for the Esports Collegiate Conference Spring Championship, where we put on a good performance. We also attended a LAN tournament called the Battle for Chicago where we played at Roosevelt University against many different schools across the state of Illinois.
Can you talk about what your first tryout experience was like?
Trying out for the NIU varsity team for Valorant was my first time trying out for something I was serious about. Previously, when it came to things outside of Valorant, maybe a sport I would try out for, I would try out just for fun. I didn’t really try in those. But when it came to Valorant, I really wanted to put my best foot forward. The people who I was around kept on hyping me up and just trying to get me to try out for the team, and even the current varsity team members at that time were trying to give me to come try out. When I sat down to play the tryout, I needed to rely on game skill, being confident in who I am, being confident in the skills I present, and just going out there and giving them my best, giving them my all.
I’ve seen you do that time and time again! You mentioned being the IGL, the in-game leader, and the captain. Can you talk about what that transition was like, what the responsibilities are and even what “team captain” means in a video game context?
We had a lot of changes with the team in the 2024-25 season, and I was one of the main guys left from that roster. At the time we didn’t have our coach, and our previous NIU Esports director was transitioning out of the program to take a new job. So that was a time of a lot of changes! I asked our interim director at the time if I could head the Valorant team and host the tryouts because I knew our program needed help at the time, and I really wanted to step up.
The way I see it, the team captain role for Valorant wasn’t just about winning games. It was about getting a system going where our players can perform at their best, not just in the game, but outside of it, too. Mentally, making sure we’re uplifting each other, making sure we’re there for each other. The team captain and the in-game leader roles go hand in hand, making sure the team is all right. Because when the team is good outside of the game, that’s how we perform our best inside the game.
Just like in physical sports, there’s a lot of turnover in collegiate esports because people graduate and move on. We’re always shifting and growing, we’re always having to assess our dynamics and systems as a team. You’re majoring in Operations Management and Information Systems. Does that help with your thinking when setting up systems for a team?
Yes – I would say that is accurate. What I’ve learned from being in that major and being captain of a team is that organization is your best friend when setting yourself and others up for success. I think my major really helps with that, with organizing different programs, different data, and also researching different data sets and how to view data sets. There’s a strong correlation between succeeding in my classes and succeeding in leading an esports team.
Outside of school, I know you have an amazing internship. Can you tell us about the organization you work for and your role there?
I currently work as an intern for an international construction services and building company. I’m an information services support intern. The tasks that I have been working on over the course of my internship has been updating technological inventories, setting up internet for construction job sites, coming up with improvements using M365 power apps, and providing technological support for users in the United States and Canada.
Was there anything that surprised you about working on information services for such a large company?
The thing that surprised me was how important the role was in a large construction company. All the employees use the internet everyday, making my job a vital part of the work that goes into the building phase. Even though we don’t help build the building, we help support and supply the technological needs of the people who build the buildings.
What are some things you’ve learned so far from your internship?
One thing that I’ve learned is communication is key in everything. The only way I can do my job effectively is to talk to different people, no matter if it is one of my bosses, an officer in the company or the many users that I help daily. Another thing that I learned is to stay teachable and remain humble. I do not know everything about technology, so it’s a good thing that I can learn from my bosses or even a user that I’m helping. I am young and still have a lot of growing and learning to do.
How has the opportunity to be a student at NIU, to play varsity and to pursue your major opened up opportunities for you?
I think coming to NIU and especially being in the NIU Esports program has shaped me as a person. It helped better me as a person. The leadership and communication skills that I’m getting from this program are important. I need to communicate, not only my directors, but with my coach, the coaches of the other varsity titles, the other players, the desk attendants who work within our arena, and even the people who come in for open play.
Being at this university, being in this program, has created so many opportunities for me to grow as a person. Day by day, I’m seeing growth within myself. I’m seeing growth within the people around me who I’ve had conversations with, which is amazing. I feel like I’m moving in a great direction. I feel like my team is moving in a great direction. I feel like the program is moving in a great direction, as well.
The last question I have for you is, do you have a dream job? As you’re concluding your collegiate career, what do you want to accomplish next?
I can’t pinpoint exactly what my dream job would be at this moment in time, but I would love to be working with data somewhere, working with technology, working with software. I just want to keep on growing and keep on learning, and I think in the OMIS field I can do that.
